11 degree cut forcing cone cuts seem to be a popular enhancment in big bore revolvers, when shooting hard cast.

I guess my question is: Can an 11 degree cut be a drawback, if both cast & jacketed bullets are used?

Thanks in advance!

We've never seen any scientific comparisons done, but note that:

1) Some of the Freedom Arms revolvers use a gentle forcing cone angle -- a Brian Pearce article stated the FA97 45LC had a 3° cone -- and you don't hear many complaints about FA accuracy.

2) At one time Ruger used 5° on its 357 revolvers. The one I own is a sweet shooter.

If you are recutting a cone be aware that some cones are already too large and may not benefit from being recut unless the barrel is set back. For example the cone on my S&W 44 will swallow a 45 caliber bullet, pretty big for a 44 caliber barrel, IMHO, and it would need to be set back a good 1/8" to clean up properly, easier said than done on a DA revolver. In these cases it may be more cost effective to save your money for an FA.

Popannman, I do have complaints about the Freedom arms revolvers. My friend has a new .475 Linebaugh and the best we have shot with all loads has been 3" groups at 50 yd's. My BFR .475 will do 3/4" at 50 yd's. My other friend has the Freedom .454 and I will outshoot it every time with my Ruger SBH .44. My Ruger was cleaned up with the 11 degree forcing cone cutter. The Ruger SRH I had, (sold it to a friend) would hit pop cans at 200 yd's. No work needed on it. We have not figured out what the Freedom guns need yet for top accuracy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I agree 100% about some forcing cones being too large to start with. You MUST use the gauge before cutting one.
Darn shame that the Freedom guns are so hard to shoot being as precise and beautiful as they are. I want one but will find out what it takes to make my friends guns shoot before investing so much money.

I guarantee..if I had a Freedom Arms that wouldn't shoot any better than that, I'd be tap dancin on their desk... from what I've heard of them, I imagine they would fix it for free, if you sent it back to them.... as much as they charge for their revolvers, they ought to be almost flawless...

Hornet, they ARE flawless. I have to measure the twist rate compared to mine. They might need a shorter boolit then I use. I like the 400 gr. Lee boolit in my BFR and can hit pop cans at 100 yd's from sandbags.
Another thing is that the Freedom is so tight that velocity might be too high with my loads. Might have to download but I am afraid to go too light with H110 or 296. Have to try some faster powders. These guns should shoot but it will take some work to find what they want.

I don't know anyone that has done a scientific study to see which forcing cone angle is best for cast and/or jacketed use. Then there is also the issue of how tight, or loose a gun is, and how well alligned the cylinder is to the bore.

I can say my factory SRH 480 has been about the most accurate revovler I've ever fired, I've been able to print 1" 50 yd 5 shot groups with almost every cast bullet I've tried, from 310 gr to 460 gr, many weights in between, plainbase, gas checked, hard cast, and medium hardness. I don't know what the factory cone angle is. My gun isn't paticularly tight, has .478+" throats in the cylinder, and about a 0.005" cylinder gap.

I have shot a buddies FA mdl 83 454, and it was very accurate with cast bullets, my only regret is I didn't have the $1100 to buy it off of him.